Duke Blue
by livelongprosperr
Summary: The world through the little boy's eyes. A story of how the coldness crept into Levi's duke blues - Split between a 'somewhat' present and past. A 'somewhat' Levi/Eren.
1. Chapter 1

Levi viewed Eren from the corner of his narrowed eyes, with his maneuvering gear in full motion, the boy, Eren swung from tree to tree, barely missing multiple branches in the eye, then deliberately slamming into the trunk of an oak. But afterwards got up wearily and continued his trek.

It was an expedition, beyond the walls, just like any other the Survey Corps routinely maintained in pursuance of any penetrable information concerning the giants - Titans, they were named, in which have doomed their land for as long as history recorded and forced humanity to hide in order to avoid all out extinction.

Impetuous pig... Levi kept his watch precise on the boy in a corporation cape who was busy hurting himself more consistently than he was the Titans. He sighed in impatience.

Levi felt a staggering heat overcome his surroundings and without a single glance in the direction, he blindly swung towards the target and a whirling mass was met with a red burst that splashed onto his coat, in which disintegrated almost an instant after it stained.

The commander spit in utter disgust and wiped his iron blades on a nearby leaf. He regained his vision on Eren, who was distinguishable from his battle cries that rang across the forest in deep tremulous waves. The boy was charging recklessly towards a fifteen meter class, who had its attention fixed on his flying figure.

Levi groaned as he proceeded to save his new recruit's ass once again. He ran across an ample extended branch and leaped off gracefully, landing on the Titan's exposed neck.

"You're very stupid, you know." He traced his blades on the giant's temple. "About to be maimed and still so very stupid. Maybe if you'll grow a brain in that large empty head of yours you'll finally stand a chance against us."

Along that word he slashed the nape as grimly as possible.

Eren landed with a hollow thump next to Levi, his expression rigid like always, he murmured into him, "Thanks. I could've destroyed him, you know."

Levi remained expressionless but thought to himself, impulsive twat...

The last time Levi had called someone that, it had been so long ago. The memories were hidden inside the young but timeworn mind, piled under everything Levi could gather in order for the experiences to disappear, go away, pretend they never happened. But once in a while, they recaptured strength and pushed through the years in which they've been buried under. And Levi wouldn't be able to stop it.

Just like they were beginning to now.

* * *

_"You're such an impulsive twat, Ryoh!" Their grade teacher had taunted a chuckling boy with hair as golden as a glimmer of sunset who was leaning back against his chair._

_No, this wasn't the time of his memories, if you were wondering. Levi had been seated dully in his stool, yearning for the retirement of their lesson. His eyes squinted at his pencil that he'd been using as cognitive tool, it spun rapidly in the grasp of his nimble though tenacious fingers. Flipped expertly without any vital concentration, Levi blew the strand of hair that had been lying unproperly in front of his face. _

**_Nothing should be improper. _**

**_Proper. That's how things should be, in order, or else hell will wreak havoc._**

_"Levi." His teacher's stern and evidently aggravated perked his attention._

_"Hm?"_

_"Levi, I want you to tell me the works of a two axled wagon. Can you do that?"_

_"Transporting all excessive or essential goods and battle provisions. Those wounded in battle severely enough that they've been deprived of the walking." Levi's eyes drooped in boredom, it was noticeable in his tone also. "And all the criminally guilty. But you knew that already. Have you consulted the useless textbooks those moronic educational advisers provided?"_

_He was greeted by a distraught though contained reaction from the woman standing before him. "Levi, don't you dare speak that way to me or to our advisers, they were the ones that made sure of your wonderful education! Apologize at once, young man."_

_"Why don't you stop talking shit about our worthless government. Afterwards, I'll apologize for sure." _

_Levi felt a hand swipe painfully over his left cheek, and a loud thwack that preceded it. His teacher had slapped him. He felt the aching bruise start to form and, ugh, that would be ugly and distasteful to tend. _

_He bellowed a deep sigh and regarded his teacher's angry expression directed at him._

_"I'm sorry for insulting you." His teacher let out an exasperated huff of contentment "I'll make sure to make it so that your feeble mind won't be able to intercept it next time._

* * *

"Corporal Levi?"

"Hm?"

Eren looked concerned, if the expression was moldable with his forever furrowed features.

"Are you feeling okay, sir?"

"Does it seem otherwise..." Levi avoided the sight of his green blue eyes that had always bundled a profusion of sensitivity.

"N-No, sir, you just ignored the world for a bit before. I was wondering if you were okay... Never mind, sir." Eren began to walk away form the cold officer. But a hand grabbed out and clasped firmly on his shoulder. "Huh?"

"Follow me. That's an order, follow it and me." Levi turned on his heels. He didn't have a clue where he was leading the trainee. It was the time and silence he needed, to.. Think things through. Rebury some too.

* * *

_The seats at the headmaster's office were filthy and Levi resented having to touch them. But he hadn't wanted avoidable trouble to stir, so he didn't fight his orders to meet here at once._

_His headmaster was having a vigorous discussion in which resembled something close to a dispute that rang through the certainly not soundproof wooden walls that separated their rooms. He had heard every word as clearly as the skies got sometimes, which showed that Levi was in a moderate amount of hardship, somewhat around the quantity he occasionally got into. _

_He was somewhat used to it. _

_Quite alarmingly , the creaky door swung open as a gruff and considerably big and a grave man, not treated kindly with age walked out. The door closed with startling slam._

_"Student Levi, you do understand how many times is enough right?" His headmaster looked more annoyed than enraged. "Seven times, you've managed to get slapped. Seven. When should we expect this engagement to stop? Levi? I'm asking you quite desperately. Rules are there for you to follow them! Not to outsmart or disobey or loophole around."_

_Levi wiped the spit that had splattered onto his face from the professor, completely disregarding his motives._

_"Do you understand, my boy?" The headmaster's face was inches away from his own, penetrating through his comfort zone. So he flung the liquid that was the spit itself coated on his fingers towards the old man's eyes. _

_A piercing scream of aggravation erupted from the haggard man as his father advanced to attempt to calm the him down._

_His father turned around,withholding an almost murderous look plastered as he insinuated with a slight smirk."What the fuck am I going to do you with, you useless, no good son my wife almost died giving birth to?! Huh? The only reason you're not rotting like shit somewhere in an alley is because your mother wanted to keep you."_

_Levi pursed his lips, he had heard this exact choice or words in a sentence many, almost countless times before. It was his father's attempt to illicit an emotional response from his cold hearted son. With no luck the first hundred times he did it. Levi wasn't going to let his father get his way._

_"So don't you think for a second that I ever wanted a brat like you who disturbs my work with these parent meetings." _

_"Whatever you say." Levi had bounded up to his heels, his height tiny compared to the two men who towered over him with no intimidation implied._

_His father fisted the fabric of his shirt tightly and dragged him along. _

_"We're going home where you'll get a proper punishment for your actions. This time, I won't have mercy."_

_But all Levi has thought about was the time and effort it would take to iron his wrinkled shirt._

* * *

Greetings, potential readers.

So. The thing is I only recently started watching Shingeki no Kyojin, as my anime crazed friends deliberately forced it upon me, I happened to really like it. And by really like I mean as in an 'ohmyfreakinggodwhatislife' like and 'Idon'tnormallywatchanimebutthisisawesome' like. So basically, I'm incredibly glad I gave in to peer pressure that I've been exposed to this wonderful anime/manga and the amazing fans who adore also the world of Titans (and Levi's face) :D.

This is one of my first 'published' fanfiction and one of the longest ones I've ever written...And I hope it brings enjoyment and Levi jitteryness to your admirable reader hearts.

Therefore... Goodbye and until next time!

~Livelongprosperr


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer; I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin.. All rights go to the creators of the anime or manga or and all in which dug out this perfection. :3

* * *

"That's where I used to live." Levi pointed towards a noticeably erect red building in the inner ring.

They were settled on the highest branch of the tree, where mountains were similar in height and birds were treated as passing men. The three walls were visibly there, under them, and minding the distance, the house in which Levi confessed to have been his house stood large and imposing. With its bright colour, it rested apart from all the other buildings.

After a momentary silence, and no reply from his new recruit, Levi turned around and asked the rigid boy, "What? Is that so surprising?"

"No, sir, it's just that... I was wondering why you're telling me this? When I was young, we studied about you and the accomplishments that you managed in one of my classes. But we were never taught your origins. I - "

Levi ignored his excess of questions and continued on. "It was a big and empty house. I didn't have any siblings and my parents either avoided me or vice versa."

He got up and paced the distance of the narrow branch. Levi picked the placements of his steps carefully, seeking balance in his slender body. His movements, Eren perceived, were like those of a crane, managing to move gracefully in the air and on any physical surface.

"Hey Eren.."

Eren glanced at his commander. He had been gazing at him almost anxiously with the usual seriousness and indifference he wore. "You'll have to promise me you'll remember something. This is important. Never judge a house by its exterior, just as you wouldn't judge a book by its cover."

* * *

_He was bleeding. In several places, the red poured endlessly, staining both himself and the ground beneath him._

_His father had a wooden bat in one hand, and was swinging it hesitantly, smirking at Levi's wince each time it was about to make contact. Levi hated his father, and it didn't matter to him his profession brought him more opportunities than most children got, or that the high officials treated him respectfully, because there were moments like this when the man's anger met unbelievable standards. These were the moments that scarred and stuck with him that no amount of gratification could erase._

**_I hate you so much._**

**_I wish there was a word that existed that could properly depict my hatred towards you, father._**

**_I. Loathe. You._**

**_I. Wish. You. To. Be. Dead._**

_This time when the wood was really driven onto a side of his ribs, Levi gritted his teeth until they hurt from the strain, not daring to cry out because it would fuel father's gain._

_Why Levi didn't fight back wasn't dependent on their size contrasts but because he didn't want his hands to get dirty. Aside from his parents' supervision, he would practice hand on hand combat in their enormous flower garden, beside a stone hedge, for hours and hours until he felt pleased with himself. He had learned to utilize his small capacity to be nimble and unpredictable. Using strategy instead of weight._

_He could imagine it sometimes..._

**_With a kick, I can disassemble your knee: both if I pleased._**

**_With a punch, I can break your neck, or your skull, or you ribcage, whichever I preferred._**

_The blows came a couple more times before the bat itself gave up and shattered, littering their antique carpet with wood shavings which laid on top of the blood._

_His father left the room at once, not even glimpsing at what he had done to his son._

_Levi got up with difficulty, and fetched a dustbin from the closet and a rag which he dampened to clean up the mess. Wood shaving after wood shaving, until all of the debris was in the dustbin, and dab after dab until the blood was gone from the carpet._

_Levi himself didn't know or recall when his obsession for everything to be neat manifested but he couldn't stand seeing something untidy go untended. Everything needed to be proper. "Or else hell will wreck havoc", his motto, something he went by and said to those who questioned his actions._

**_Why do I prefer to clean? How about I show you by cleaning up your entrails after I'm done with you, huh?_**

_Afterwards, the sore boy proceeded to his mother's room to deliver her daily medication._

_"Mother?"_

_The master bedroom was beautifully constructed, red wall paper with an elegant design painted, matching the house's outward walls. In the center of the room was a grandiose bed with silk spreads in which a shriveled woman lay, unmoving. Upon seeing his mother asleep, Levi tiptoed across the matted carpet and placed the medicine on her bedside table, careful not to disturb the priced sleep she rarely got._

_He was nearly at the door when a weak voice called out, "Levi? Why are you limping?"_

_"It's nothing, go to sleep."_

_"Levi."_

_"GO to sleep." Levi said impatiently._

_"Did father hit you again? You know I told him not to, you're just a boy without knowing a right or wrong in this world - "_

_Levi turned around to face his mother with any acknowledgment about the appearance of his face._

_"Oh my goodness... Your face, honey. Let me see it. How hard did he hit you?"_

_Levi turned the knob and stepped out the door. Neglecting his mother's demands. "To sleep, mother."_

_Then, before the door shut completely, Levi heard his mother call out. "Your father wanted me to ask you to reconsider joining the Military Police; you're turning thirteen soon."_

_After listening, Levi kicked the door shut with a sigh of dissatisfaction._

* * *

Greetings again! I've come back with one more chapter, this one's a tad short but I felt it was necessary to include it into the story itself, because it helps depict the uhm... Relationship Levi had with his parents.

I've already written about 20,000 words to be exact, and am about halfway to my preferred ending, in which I'm awaiting to get to once my editor/friend gets on with the editing, but I promise that there is much to come, hopefully some of you will stick with me until I'm finished with this project.

I've gotten one favourite. And that's already more than I can handle - Never expected this to actually get praise, but thank you, Kuro-Cha'Nay'Nay for helping to add into my bundle of self -esteem... I express full gratitude!

I'm probably going to split the updating to once per day, if not, a bit longer between, and...

'Till the next time, readers!

~Livelongprosperr


	3. Chapter 3

YO... I still don't own Shingeki if any of you were wondering...

* * *

The wind was starting to pick up. Leaves blew around them in an autumn blurr: red, yellow, brown flakes formed a swirling fountain of colour. On a neighbouring branch, two figures stood side to side with green blue capes flapping in the wind.

What were they talking about? One looked too lost in thought to ever be found; another's turquoise eyes sparkled with tears - were they in distress? One seemed to be explaining something with great difficulty.

"Corporal Levi," Eren trudged near the man, "Corporal?"

"Can you shut up? I'm trying to think."

"S-Sorry, sir. I'll be quiet."

Levi caught a billowed leaf in his palm and swiftly crunched it. All that was left were pieces of frond that followed the wind current and were to never be seen again.

"In that dreary school you went to, did they mention who my father was?" Levi flicked his hand so the leftover leaf bits would fall off.

"No, they didn't teach us anything but your combat and ranking achievements."

"Hm." Eren took his time to decipher whether the grunt was meant to be positive or negative. "You must know about the Military Police, Jaeger."

Eren nodded frantically in response, unsure of where the discussion was leading to.

"Any practical thoughts?"

"P-Practical, sir - "

"Speak with some cohesion. You've got that loud voice, put it to use." Levi cut him off.

"I think they have promise, but the promise isn't bestowed to a full potential."

"Stop being so awfully nice, Jaeger. They're useless, spoiled members of the corporation who don't deserve their superior title."

"I agree, sir, but not all members are that bad, and only the top ten recruits are able to join. I think that must count for something-"

"I honestly don't care. They're the reason that so many died that day when Wall Maria was breached. If they bothered to focus on their job of keeping the population in order and helping with the escape instead of drinking their positions to waste..." Levi sighed and squinted his eyes. "Pig is the most gratifying title they deserve. Fucking useless, filthy pigs."

Levi watched as Eren gasped at his words. Was the boy judging him? The Corporal heaved a breath and decided to rid his trainee of his prejudice.

"Do you want know who my father really was? He was the representative of the Military Police in the government. The very man who convinced the authorities to eradicate the usage of maneuvering gear for the Military Police. Too much trouble. Not like the walls are going to be simultaneously broken, right?" Levi said grimly with false enthusiasm.

"Oh." Eren looked shaken as he carefully knelt down on the bark. He hugged his knees in tight and spoke not for as the winds continued to blow.

Levi wasn't someone who got angry often. He took peoples' shit better than most do, because he thought it to be not worth getting messy for. It it was tolerable, he did and suppressed all comebacks. But when it came to the Military Police, his rage became abnormally pent up. He had lost so many comrades to that sickening day, lives he couldn't revive. Lives which were taken from him because the damned Military police couldn't keep their guard up.

"Hey, Commander."

Levi lifted his head to meet Eren's and noted he was staring in the direction where a black smoke trail marked the sky. Where the Military Police base was situated. He rolled his eyes and said, "Aberrant. They're particularly annoying."

"We should help them."

"Might as damn well do. Those idiots can't handle anything."

* * *

_"Kari, you won't guess what I convinced the counsel to do today!"_

_Levi's father guffawed at the dinner table. His mother had smiled weakly at him, then asked him to elaborate on the details. Levi ate mere miniscule bites out of his food. It was because he had cringed at the acknowledgment of where corn grew, in the fields, with dirt and bugs and possible molds that grew along with it. He found it disgusting that people can stand the procedure of cultivation._

_"I'm going to be earning us more money from now on!"_

**_I don't care about your crappy money._**

_"My corporation, the Military Police, is now going to stop using the fancy, expensive gear they used to use. I thought it shouldn't be needed, you know. The giants haven't done anything worthy of my attention for a while. They probably all died or ran away or something. So, why do we need the protection? With the cost of that, the extra change is going to me! How's that for a good house income!"_

_Levi gulped down an urge to correct his father about the Titan's status. It was better not to bring up a conflict then._

_"What about you, my boy?" Levi forced his eyes to redirect, at his fork, a wall, his platter of food, avoiding to answer._

_"Levi, answer your father, dear."_

_Levi poked his fork into the tablecloth._

_"It is ignorant."_

_It was a winter ago; the blizzards that instantaneously engulfed their world was a humongous impact on the agriculture part of the city. Food became much more precious and expensive, causing many to starve and die. If the frigid conditions weren't enough, the economic failures would've managed the to do same damage._

_Levi had been roaming the streets of the outer circle. He had hopped onto a train with a bundle of money he had hoped to share with those who could use a few more pieces of stale bread._

_He had by far underestimated the casualty. His money wasn't enough to feed as much as ten families, and with the ones who were left out, they regarded him with impoverished, almost desperate looks. Levi had been overwhelmed with the state of things and promised he would come back soon with more to spare._

_On his way back to the returning train, he saw a man and a person who seemed to be his wife huddled around a dying fleck of ember, orange in the field of blue and gray. The clothes they wore were not the least bit helpful against the icy wind: it had probably already blown through their light rags and into their skin. They had clear signs of frostbite and hypothermia. Levi had apprehended in a lesson a while back, and the woman was evidently pregnant. Levi bit down on the inner skin of his cheek, resisting to feel the sheer amount of guilt he was living in high classes where food to him was something he could be picky about._

_He dug his hands into his pockets for anything he could possibly give him when a tousle of his bright red scarf blew across his face. That was it. Levi skittered past the icy pavements, body being weighed down by the heavy coat wrapped around his small being._

_"Here. Wrap this around her neck." Levi untangled his scarf and lifted it off his face. The blistering cold stung his cheeks but with the others around living in worse conditions he couldn't stand complaining. "It'll keep you warm: it's wool."_

_The man was wearing glasses that were cracked and frosted over by the snow. He reached a shaky hand towards Levi and snatched the maroon scarf up like it was a savior. Quick as someone who was in full heath, he wrapped it around the woman's figure. The scarf's soft material woke the woman whose eyelids lifted weakly._

_"T-Thank you, young man, thank you!"_

_Levi kept his expression stern and serious towards the man and said briefly, "Just keep the scarf."_

_"I'm a doctor; at least I was before my clinic froze in the storm. Boy, whenever you need someone, I'll be in your aid."_

_Levi turned around and started towards the train. He didn't want to think giving up one of his hundred scarf collection was worth this much._

_"My name is Grisha Jaeger, Doctor Jaeger. Remember that."_

_Now, Levi had been avoiding his father's line of sight while recounting that day in that horrible storm. How, then, was when he had started to resent his father's income and how the classes were so distinguishable. Even with the walls! If the Titans were to invade, wouldn't the lowerclassmen who'd already lived their lives in poverty and in constant suffering be the first to die? Levi wanted to spit in his father's face and tell him that he wasn't worth the lives of thousands others. He just wasn't. Maybe not even worth one._

_"Eh, Levi." He father banged the table next to him, causing his drink to spill on the table._

_Levi flinched at the mess his drink had made. And the urges to clean it up have already began to take over. But then, Levi decided to answer._

_"It's ignorant. Because you're underestimating the Titans. They're not stupider than you, you know, they've almost bid extinction to all of humanity when you've just put many in famine." Levi spoke calmly through gritted teeth._

_His father's face had began to bloom bright red like a cherry blossom, a pretty flower that did not define his father's rage, one time he had seen one on the outskirts of town._

_It was that same day, he found the couple and rid of his scarf. He had taken the, seemingly wrong train back to the inner circle, which took him to a strange countryside he had never heard of before. The storm had been slightly less severe there. As he stood, lost and somehow a girl had seen him from across the land and rushed over to help._

_"Hey! Hey you! Are you lost or something? You sure look lost." The girl had been wearing something closely resembling a thick rag, it was atrociously grimy and Levi took a subconscious step away from her. "I'm harmless, no Titan inside of me! I'm allll HUMAN!"_

_She had an overly enthusiastic personality had forced him to follow her to what was her big 'secret' and how she hadn't seen another boy her age in five years. He decided at last, to indeed accompany her since he had nothing better to do but stand around looking for a way back._

_The had crawled through icycle encompassed bushes and crawled up a creaky fence and into a small opening in the fifty meter tall wall. And then. What he saw was so beautiful, Levi fell onto his knees and blew out a loud chuckle, he hadn't laughed for longer than he could remember. There were pink flowers everywhere, on trees and littered on the ground. He didn't care that they were messy or unproper, they acted like tiny bits of the pink fluffy clouds he had watched at nightfall decided to fall to earth._

_He twisted to the direction of the girl and smiled at her, he had been glad he took the wrong train, because, this view, this beauty was the best outcome he could've ever gotten._

_"LEVI." His father took a deep breath in and averred again with much more restraint. "Son, have you agreed to join the military police like I told you to yet?"_

_"No."_

_"What did you say?!"_

_"NO."_

_He and the girl had been rolling around in pink carcasses of the flower petals when it came. Running loud and thumping towards them like a storm. A Titan._

_He'd never seen an actual Titan before then, only in pictures and illustrations he ripped out of textbooks. It was huge and melted the snow instantly melt into sizzling vapour after coming near. A menacingly blissful expression on its face, with a smile that bent down towards the kids and bit._

_He had bitten the girl whose name he had never even asked for. Levi was panicked and shaken enough, he had almost been snatched up by the abnormally large fingers before he reacted and started running... Toward the Titan. Like a fool, he had charged up to it with his meager knife he always kept in his pocket, the girl dangling and screaming and bloody in the grasp of the Titan's teeth._

_He had stabbed over and over again the Titan's foot but against Levi's frustration, it had kept healing and healing until he was almost hysterical with anguish. He had proceeded with other parts of the Titan's body, trying the back and the arm and the fingers and finally, he had jumped in retort and onto the Titan's neck. He had run the blade down under, shouting in determination. Then, to his surprise, it didn't appear to have mended itself. He grabbed onto the Titan's head and ruthlessly punctured the skin with his small sword._

_He had momentarily glanced at the girl, almost too done for to be struggling, her eyes were closing and NO! Levi had subconsciously cut out a oval piece of of the nape of the giant's neck and with the blood that sprayed onto his hair, the Titan fell, as the girl did, down into the blood stained petals of the blossoming pink tree._

_He rushed over to her._

_"Are you hurting?" The girl huffed out a stuttering breath, and turned up the corners of her mouth into a girn._

_"You took out that Titan by yourself? Awe-Awesome." She panted._

_"I asked. Are you hurting? Can you walk? Do you want me to carry you?" Levi looked down at her blood battered legs and the red that had been rushing down to her shoes. Of course she couldn't walk. Could Levi carry her though? He didn't doubt himself for any more time as size didn't matter, he would get her home and safe._

_"No.. D-Don't bother. I like seeing the flowers before I go. I want to stay." She blinked her teary eyes at the trees that cowered above her._

_Levi stood up in confusion and agitation. "WHAT? No, you're coming with me."_

_"Tell my sister that she has to join the Survey Corps with you, okay? Her name is... Hanji Zoe. Please."_

_With that word, she had coughed until there was no more of her left. Levi rose shakily and squeezed his eyes shut. No... No... He hadn't cared that he had defeated a Titan, because now one more person was dead, and Levi couldn't do anything about it._

_All that was left of the Titan was bones now, which should've baffled Levi except he was too crowded with grief and disorientation for any contemplation._

_He had walked home, by home, he really had walked for what seemed like hours, until reaching the gate to the inner circle. He hadn't bothered with his dirty hands and boots and hair, until collapsing in the arms of his mother. _

_He had defeated a Titan... Survey Corps... Destroy more for their destruction to us... He had noticed the real threat the Titans had possessed in store for them. Levi never told anyone about his excursion, not a single mention of it either to himself nor to others. But it had always been stuffed in the back of his mind, urging him to find the girl named Hanji Zoe._

* * *

I have to admit I really adored writing this chapter, finally getting to some interconnectedness throughout the series and the story that I had wrote, I hope those of you who either watch or read Shingeki no Kyojin caught them.. Hehe... Not sure whether or not I placed them obviousness enough. So, Yeah. This is what the majority of my story will be like, sort of half present and half past, not including the single time lapse ones that are far too long to be paired.

Again, thanks for reading, I really appreciate every one of you, and considering the amount of self-esteem it took to post this, I'd say it's worth it watching readers indulge in this. :)

Until next time!

~Livelongprosperr


	4. Chapter 4

Horses respected Levi. His especially, he maintained sanitation and health with the profitable creatures, kept their hair untangled and cut clean for every expedition in which took place outside of the walls. He fed them with the proper nutrition, a based portion of necessities that kept his horses active and substantial. He didn't necessarily regard highly of the animals, it was principally for the sake of prized transportation he did what he did, and, of course, his cleanness issue.

Eren... Not so much. He was focused on the target - head on, instead of paying attention to his horse, which was almost completely out of breath. Eren had urged his horse to travel at impassible speeds, so that he could have another Titan kill sooner. The colt was about to collapse and Levi was too apathetic to mention it to him, hence, they had made it over the teeming forest and fields, until the walls rose right above them.

"Switch to maneuvering gear, Jaeger, this is a tough one." The Titan that was the target Levi and Eren had been summoned for was at a staggering height of approximately fourteen feet and was moving briskly like a tornado on the small flecks of solders whipping around, trying to get hold of its neck.

"OY! COMMANDER LEVI, THIS ABERRANT'S OUT OF CONTROL. KILLED SEVEN ALREADY." A man porting a leather jacket with an emblem of double entwined roses - member of the Stationary Guard ran up to the two, uniform tattered and heaving a breath.

"Seven huh? Well, this giant's placed his own fate by himself, seven severs it will be, before I murder it's ass." Levi's small frame shot into the vapor, as Eren struggled to catch up to his commander before the trace of his fly would be lost.

Levi never minded much, the disability of sight, he was used to all the vapor that masked Titans' bodies when he managed to come in contact with one, and he had gathered that using his sense of touch, and feeling the heat when the Titan comes near works much more effectively than vision.

He clung to the flaky material in which was the wall itself, and held the iron blades alert at his sides. With the vapour thinning and a shadow advancing near, Levi slashed the space on instinct.

"AGH!" Eren avoided the sharp edges of the weapons as he landed on the surface next to where Levi was resting at. "Whoa. Don't kill me, Corporal, I'm here to help."

"Where you should be is down there with the horses. They're vital." Levi stared into the mist, daring for anything to twitch a muscle. After noticing his unbudging trainee, he warned, "GO."

That was when a sizzling arm flew out of nowhere and landed strident punch on the spot where the two were residing. Levi swooped an arc, with a twist, a skillful strike with accuracy, had latched onto the hurtling flesh. He pulled in with minimal difficulty, not unbeatable by the his name, and lifted the blades to his side, them glinting with sunshine that streaked through the ash.

The pink surface of the Titan's wrist neared to the Corporal's blades' tips, then, he brought them together in a symmetric crescent, sinking into the blisteringly warm flesh, cutting off the wrist and bone. The hand smacked the terrain with a loud thud, gratifying to Levi's pleasure.

_One._

That was one life for revenge in the Titan's pain, six more to go. Levi didn't believe in much, barely nothing to know of, but he something he did was the importance of a human soul. Every life was to be accounted for as much as his own. No one were to die in vain under his control. He didn't believe in revenge, but if it were for the lives gone, he would watch those suffer and suffer until he deemed debts repaid.

While said that, Levi had divided another hand._ Two_. Blood was on his clothes, and in his disgust was another reason to blame for the Titan's wrongdoing. He cinched a blade that swiped the air with a loud whip and embedded itself into the giant mouth that had opened on demand. _Three._

Another two in its eyes._ Four. Five_... The Titan howled like an advancing thunderstorm, booming in his ears. Levi felt a drop of sweat roll down his neck, his arms ached from constant overused force. And he was having trouble keeping the wires apex at his sides. But he wasn't done yet. No. He had two to go, two more lives to avenge, no matter how his consequence, he won't allow it in any way.

"Hey!" Levi caught the giant's eyesight match his. His weapons in the air, "You see this? You're going to decide where it goes. I'm all out of ideas, bitch."

He swirled onto a side where the Titan's face followed him, it was pinpointed on him now. It was getting evidently more challenging for Levi as he flew in circles trying to get to the ears.

Once he laboriously exceeded the Titan's speed, he threw another, bullseye into its ear. _Six_. He was almost done. Almost. But then, he was thrown over, his wires had burst due to excessive use. Damn.

Levi smashed into a pile of rocks agonizingly and felt clothes tear on his backside.

He squinted upwards to see Eren blasting in circles, encompassing its upper body, confused at first, he later realized the boy was using his motions to wrap his wire around the Titan's neck. It had coiled enough to suggest Eren to advance. With the Titan no longer as mobile, the blades collided with metallic bangs as the hysterical boy screamed out incoherent words. The Titan fell. Finally.

_Seven._

Levi flipped himself over on his chest, knees bucked in like he had done hundreds of times so long ago, when his father would hit him. He got up on one knee and pushed with an arm, to the standing position.

Eren, remarkably unlike of him, didn't bother to examine the work he had done on the fallen Titan, but rushed over to the man who was severely injured but continuing to hold his stature like a obstinate warrior.

"Dammit, you're bleeding.. Someone get me some cloth!" Eren hurried off to taking off Levi's ruined jacket and cape, the shirt he wore on the inside was as torn as the skin on his back.

"Don't you think I know that? It IS my back that's bleeding." Levi spat bloodied spit into a pile of dirt beneath him. "Ugh, this is absolutely sickening."

A battered girl with vivid blond hair came limping over with a white washcloth, in which she held a bucket of steaming water in the other.

"Thank you Christa."

"It's nothing, Corporal Levi, I hope you heal fine."

She then dashed back to join her comrades who were busy treating their own wounds to be bothered with others'

"You could've killed it in one blow, the six others were stupidly pointless -"

"Pointless. Those seven lives the Titan poached were also pointless, huh?"

"I didn't mean that, it's just if you were just more careful - "

"You're lecturing me about carefulness... Your impulsiveness to get killed isn't any better; HEY, I'm cleaning it myself." Levi snatched the red splotched cloth from Eren's hands and dipped it into the boiling water, he then pressed it against the innumerable scratches the rocks hand dented onto his back.

"Mmp." They hadn't hurt worse than when his father's anger got out of hand and he had beat him with a nail. Those had hurt.

"Corporal Levi, would you like me to get some bandages from the first aid kit?" Eren said frantically.

"No. I'm getting them myself." He twisted his way out of the clingy boy's grasp. His knees had given out again, but with a stumble he mounted once more, steadier. Halfway towards the medical center, Levi turned his head around with the bored expression that was so familiar now to Eren. "You're getting better at 3-D maneuver combat. Don't disappoint me with your next fight."

Eren suspected this to be the Corporal's way of complimenting him. Close enough.

* * *

_Levi dabbed at his mother's wounds, there were many, a gruesomely deep one on her cheek and several protracted ones in her arms. Of course, more were on Levi, but there weren't any that were above severe, therefore, he went to his mother._

_There had been a fight. Between his mother and monstrous father in which was highly disadvantageous to the sick and thin mother, over Levi's choices, the selection day for him had been coming up, a month was when he would have to make a choice. While his father had insisted - No, forcefully pushed him towards the Military Police , because that was seemingly a path he had to choose by the virtue of father's profession. His mother had approved of Levi making his own judgment and compromises._

_Levi didn't want to spend away his life being surrounded by slacking men who achieved nothing in terms of their work. He wanted to help humanity as much as he, being one person in the face of mankind could administer, joining the Military wasn't going to bid much advancement in his intentions._

_"Do you know WHO puts this roof over your head?" His father had said to attempt to invoke guilt from his son. "ME. That's who. So you listen to me, got it?"_

_"I would be more than contented if you would remove the roof from my room."_

_"LEVI." His father had slammed an unwieldy palm on the table as he rose to strike the stunted boy with the indifferent attitude._

_"Isaac." His mother warned in a steely tone, "He's allowed to make his own decisions."_

_"Shut the hell up! Kari!."_

_His mother winced away as if his words were sharpened. His father spun in his objective, and studied him with one of his threatening smiles. "You WILL join the Military Police. Because I said so."_

_He hooked a punch up Levi's chin. He sagged at the impact with knees on the wooden floorboard. He had looked downward, because the demeanor in his father's eyes will ride him over his own sake, he didn't want to fight back. His mother whimpered woefully to the point that Levi felt an aching pain inside in a corner of their living room._

_"Say it, Levi. You'll become a top trainee - Top ten, in fact. I see you practice even though you don't notice, you can make it to the top. So you'll join Military Police." _

_He lashed Levi in the ribs with a solid boot. The edge dug in and Levi swore he heard ribs fracture under splitting cracks._

**_Don't. Don't hit back. Don't._**

_She had begun to weep for him. It was noticeable, the drops of her tears that hit the ground._

**_Don't get involved. Mother. Don't._**

_Levi bit his lip until they ripped under the tension of his teeth. "Say it, Levi."_

_"Fuck. You."_

_"DAMMIT SON, WHY CAN'T YOU DO ONE THING FOR THE MAN WHO'S DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU."_

**_No you haven't. You've done everything for the perfect vision of a family you go by. With collaborative members who follow your every command. A family isn't about that. Father Mother. Care for their child. Child. Care and respect parents. As one with individual thoughts and opinions in which we give up for one another, that's family. I know I've been burdensome but that's because I had tumbled into a hole of confusion and turmoil without anything to grasp onto to break the fall. So don't you DARE say you did this for me, because that's a disgrace the the definition of family, of household._**

_And by the virtue, he had been slammed in the head by a timbered chair. He fell to the ground, head dizzy, vision almost gone, and hearing - he didn't know if he had heard correctly, his mother had screamed words she never used - foreign to her voice, towards his father._

_Levi smacked a hand to his temple, wet with an oozing liquid, blood. Again. He had felt this sensation of a head impact, only once before, much less severe than this. Now, he could only make out blurs of moving colours in front of him. A tall, big shadow hitting the smaller one.. No._

**_NO._**

_Levi got up blindly and roaring at a louder voice he hadn't believed viable. But he did, and now, he was hitting the figure, kicking, scratching and biting at someone who had fallen under the velocity of his strikes, he knew his father had been defeated but it wasn't enough. Targets were there, a leg, a head, a neck, and a stomach, his mother was begging him to.. Stop? Go on? He couldn't focus on her words._

_Just wasn't._

_"YOU DON'T GET TO TOUCH HER." And he delivered the final blow. Knee, bone, was sticking out of the flesh, a scream? A scream, from mother or father? He couldn't make out the sounds, they were mixed together and... He was falling? No it was his father who fell. So why were things getting black?_

**_Black._**

* * *

So. Hi again.

This is chapter four. In case the title wasn't obvious enough. And... Enjoy? I guess that's the primal reason I decided to share this with you guys, for enjoyment to be spread, and in which those with similar interests can all come together to write and read. :)

~Livelongprosperr.


	5. Chapter 5

_Levi woke up on the ground. His hair felt sticky and wet and throbbing with his pulse. He fisted the carpet under his hands, which were also sticky. What had he done to himself? Did his father beat him? He couldn't remember anything but the screams of a man and a woman._

_Levi opened his eyes, things refocused gradually and he was met with a room full of debris and shattered wood, and glass. There was also a whole lot of blood. Staining every possible surface, it was there._

_Red was an ugly colour. It was angry and pleading and attention attracting, which was why he hated it._

_While that, a woman dressed in gray and with swollen eyes limped through the door. It was his mother, and she looked like she hadn't been sleeping._

_"Mom."_

_"Don't, Levi, not now."_

_"What happened."_

_"Please. Not now, listen to your mo - "_

_"Tell. Me."_

_She burst out in tears, to Levi's surprise. And she cried, for a long time until Levi crawled over to her and brushed away the brown strands of clumped hair out of her face with his swollen hands._

_"You did it subconsciously... You did it because you were provoked, and - and he hit me. It wasn't your fault, Levi!" His mother wailed as if she were to blame when really._

_He grasped the memory. It was alarmingly painful, he remembered slapping his father hard enough he heard the bones cracking in his own hand. And how he had continuously kicked at his knee, hard enough each time to fling him a certain distance. He remembered his own ruthlessness._

_Who was that monster? Was it Levi? Was it really the small and bony boy that had done that?_

_He recalled his father pleading for him to stop, through cries, interrupted by the ones of his mother. Oh god._

_"Levi, it wasn't your fault.. It wasn't... I shouldn't - Shouldn't of -"_

_Levi backed away, splinters splitting under his shoes. He went out the door with pleas of his mother. He didn't listen. All he heard was the voices in his head insisting the boy who had tortured his father matched the one who defeated the Titan. Then again, his father and the Titan were not all that contrasted. They've both ruined lives of the innocent, hurt people he had cared for. They had deserved it, it had deserved it._

_So why was Levi so disgusted with his actions?_

_He ran with rashness, the injuries of his legs stinging. The pain this time didn't distract him from the truth. He was a monster. But if he wanted to save the virtuous, he had to defeat the High. And to be able to accomplish that, he had to become the monster, in order to destroy the original monsters._

_And that frightened him. To the bit where he found an empty alley, and crouched behind a waste bucket. And cried. Levi doesn't cry, it wasn't something he did. His mother had been concerned for a while, during his childhood years, where he just stopped crying in all. It was because Levi was a boy too old for his size and age. He was ancient, in his mind, he understood. But it was a curse and had no trace of a blessing._

_He was a man, inside a boy. But men were still allowed to cry._

_And there he was. Crying. Because the truth hurts. Worse than any of the cuts or bruises or breaks he had on his body. Because those heal. The truth just rested there, swaying in front of your every motion. Tauntingly. If he was going to save anybody. He was going to have to let the beast devour any hint of him Levi ever obtained._

* * *

INCREDIBLY sorry this is late. For the readers I guess, school's just started and I needed to deal with some business before anything else... So. Enjoy :D

~Livelongprosperr


	6. Chapter 6

"Have you ever fallen in love before?" Eren asked timidly whilst lying on the disfigured sofa near to the bed in which Levi was lying on restlessly.

"What's with you and your irrelevant questions." He sat up abruptly and reached over to the desk located at his side for his combat boots, wincing at his damaged muscles.

Eren had already appeared next to him and forcefully eased the boots out of his grasp, "Oy brat, what are you doing?" He laid them on the stand again before seating back at the couch.

"Hanji sent me to be your guard." Eren scratched his head guiltily. "She said to stop you from doing something irrational under all costs.. Or else... "

"I'm leaving, Jaeger. If you and Hanji like it or not." Levi snatched the boots up and strapped them up hurriedly before noticing Eren's being blocking the exit. "Move, imbecile."

Eren looked more fearful than determined, observed Levi. He had watched towards the floor, but refused to budge.

"Sir, I don't want Hanji to dissect me."

"Maybe I will dissect you, then. Now, move your Titan ass out of my way." Levi warned collectedly. He brushed his hair out of his eyes with the available arm - The other had been bind with a cling.

"Corporal Levi, this is for your own good! You've just made six fortunate cleaves on an aberrant Titan with abnormal velocity and crashed into boulders from ten meters in the air!"

"And you've just succeeded to push me over the edge, guess we both accomplished things today." Levi swiped with his foot, which froze halfway to the target, Eren's shin, where pain shot up his leg and refused to dim. Levi growled in aggravation and threw his fist towards the boy's skull. He was, to Levi's surprise, blocked by Eren in a swift motion and brought to the side. He quickly evaluated the statistics of the graduating members of the 104th squad... Eren had achieved fifth on the scale, not bad... And... Levi racked his mind for answers.

Damn. He had excelled in hand to hand combat and strength.

Levi had some strategies of his own as he regained balance and directed a fist in a backwards hammer strike to the boy's neck, but with the sound of his own bones cracking, Levi shrunk away in discomfort and leaned one shoulder against the wall for support.

He groaned at the sight of his discomposure and, this time, allowed Eren to guide him back to the mattress. His touch was reassuring and soft, so unlike how callous his actions became when fighting the Titans, Levi was annoyed at his forgiveness towards Eren's undertaking.

"Fucking hell... This.."

"I hate being weak too, sir." Eren said sympathetically.

"Are you calling me weak?" Levi glowered at him darkly.

"N-No, I just meant... Even the strongest have to face weakness, their reactions towards being weak is also what shows how strong they are. The sun has to descend everyday, but how we managed to survive in the dark and substitute the sunlight with usage of fire is what proves humanity strong." Eren mumbled coherently under his breath.

Levi had sullenly considered the trainee's words to be wise but hadn't mentioned anything in relation because he was supposed to be the wise and diligent one others followed and was comforted by... Well, not necessarily be comforted, but felt protected by. And suddenly this hyperactive, naively determined Titan shifter had achieved the title he struggled to obtain ever since his admittance to the squad.

"So, captain, have you ever been in love?"

Oh. So the boy was still expecting an answer. Levi pondered to this long and hard. He didn't know what love was, to begin with, the sentiments he'd experienced with family interactions had been tinged with expected obligation and pangs of always owing them his posture. He didn't recognize the butterfly feeling people described bittersweetly to him repeatedly in the past, blushing was a completely undiscovered reaction. And he didn't remember the last time he had looked forward to anything.

But there was him. Levi didn't remember much, because of the nights he spent slamming his temple against his bedpost in order for him to be forgotten, of course, as always, his desires hasn't been granted. The memory lingered, of him.. Was caring a trait similar to love? Were they interchangeable? Or was it something more, to this... Love, Levi was so foreign to?

"No." His voice had suddenly cracked. "I don't believe in it."

"Oh."

"Why is it that everything I say always exhibits a stupid emotional response?"

"Well, because its sad, sir, love is beautiful, in this world where beauty is just a faraway, distant souvenir. Love is the last trace of it." Eren, smiled meekly, turning his face to avoid him noticing. He did. "You didn't love your parents? That counts."

Eren could tell from his Corporal's agonized expression that he should not have proceeded with the subject. His eyes were drained of optimism, more so than they usually were, and his entire build sagged.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't of.. Uh.. Mentioned it." Eren opened his mouth to say, "My mother was the reason I joined the Survey Corps."

"I don't care about your sob story, there are places I can locate more devastating ones ." Levi interrupted.

To Levi's aback, Eren didn't seem to be constrained by his words. He pursed his lips sedately and said, "My mom loved Mikasa and I more than anyone in the world. I had loved her the same way. And when that fucking Colossal Titan smashed a piece of Wall Maria onto my house, my mother was injured then eaten, I fucking swore to myself, that I would kill all of them. Every last one on the face of world. Because. When I turned the corner to see our house smashed by the boulder, it was like the world shook. As it had literally, the pounding of the Titans' footsteps, it was as if the world was ending. I presume that feeling to love. To feel like they're your world. And that without their gravitational pull, you would be lost. Just like I am always."

Levi blinked a strange edginess from his eyes, they felt uneasy, and that gave him time to contemplate on what Eren had said.

"Nice speech you got there, Eren.."

The two turned around to find a woman dressed in Survey Corps uniform, fitted with a brown leather jacket with an sewn insignia of the two Wings of Freedom, and glasses reflecting the sunlight streaming from the windows that hung on the tip of her nose. Her hair had been spun in an unkempt bun, in which caused strands to fall to the sides of her face with the indistinct expression.

"Squad leader Hanji?"

"The one and only!" She had waltzed into the room and plopped onto the Corporal's bed.

"I-I managed to keep Corporal Levi in his quarters, ma'am. Just like you asked." Eren spoke haltingly while holding the salute towards the commander.

"Nawh, eternally grouchy Levi here can't be contained, he was bound to escape you at some point. That's why I was waiting in the hallway in case he actually slipped out. Can't believe he'd given up so quickly."

Levi growled from beside Hanji's cheerful figure.

"You were.. In the hallway?" Eren scratched at his rumpled brown locks of hair, looking uncomfortable. "That means, you heard everything?"

Hanji Zoe flicked on a blinding beam, "Yes! And must I add, Eren, that you are less driven by hatred than I had previously thought."

"Huh..."

"You have such an clear understanding of one of the most ambiguous emotion humans deal with. The sentiment of love." Hanji pushed her glasses up so that they covered her eyes again.

"Holy shit. Now there are two overly sensual idiots in this room." Levi covered his head and pounded it against the bedpost.

Hanji offhandedly laid the man back to his lying position and knelt next to Eren, a look of fascination displayed in her glass shielded eyes.

"Eren. There happened to be a specific experiment I had performed on a previous Titan capture. Name was Brian, a six meter class, extremely placid for a Titan of its height, we'd gotten control over it when one member of my squad was roaming the streets and came across a slumbering giant whose motions were much to slow to do any harm, therefore she dragged him back to the institute where I was granted the time to study it.

"The experiment was to determine whether or not Titans feel emotions, if their minds are wired emotionally likewise humans. Frankly, Brian was devastatingly murdered by the anonymous person who managed to kill off all my other examinations the morning after, but before, I had managed to collect some valuable information on Brian. When he had arrived, he was chained and strangled with with rope and and wires. I had the crew remove all items in which was inflicting pain on the Titan and leave with only chains for his limbs. I had taken the time to introduce myself, and meet him, which was before he tried to eat me. But disregarding that, I had spent the entire day reading stories to the Titan, telling him the adventures I had gone on to attain the position of Squad Commander. "

"Hold up. You insisted I rest after my overwhelming array of events. How the hell am I supposed to do that if you keep telling us this experimental nonsense? Hanji. I honestly don't care." Levi interrupted.

"Oh psh. Don't worry about him, Eren. I was talking to you. Where was I?"

"Uh... Recalling stories to the Titan - " Eren mumbled awkwardly.

"RIGHT!" Hanji spouted passionately. "Brian started off incredibly twitchy and in which I had to stray a certain distance to not be bitten - Some peculiar rule of safety the counsel insisted I followed, I didn't think was very necessary. Until the hours rolled by, he became to gradually calm, to a point where I could approach him without any backup, no weapons, no uniform, and continue to tell him my journeys. At first, I didn't detect this was anything out of the ordinary, he became weary, maybe, too tired to come out as an attack.

"Then was when one of my solders came near the Titan to deliver me a letter sent from some source, which is besides the point, but when he advanced, into the boundary of safety I had thought to have been discarded, Brian attacked him."

"O-oh. Is he.. Was he - " Eren cut her off.

"Ah. He was fine, of course. No injuries. Thank goodness he was top notch in combat and avoided the threat, RIGHT? AHA. But anyway, the theory of exhaustion was terminated, and that left me wondering exactly why Brian wasn't attempting an attack on me, and me only."

"Did you figure it out?"

Hanji slapped a hand on the table, causing things to shake. "I DID! I DID. AND IT WAS WONDERFUL."

"Woman. Calm yourself, I just cleaned the furniture. Don't spill the candle." Levi's voice popped from behind the two.

"It was wonderful. Wonderful, discovery is beautiful. Turns out Brian had learned to trust me. Trust, wasn't a notable Titan trait, because people were eaten without any bonding time for trust to develop, but Brian here, Brian did. I performed a couple of trust testing exercises in which all succeeded. I had made friends with a Titan. FRIENDS! He no longer had the urge to kill me, and I decided to start to see Titans differently afterwards from that point. I don't know whether or not Brian was an aberrant, he didn't show any signs of being one, besides the slow movement, but that characteristic was manifested in others besides him too. I was on fire from my experiment, but. The next day, he was killed. And had died in front of my eyes... It was like watching someone I loved die, hurt more than the disappointment of the unaccomplishment of my experiment.." She had trailed off, voice descending along the halt.

Eren watched the Commander bow her head into her fist, quiet. Finally, as Levi had wanted in the first place. The candlelight reflected of her glasses, an eerie glow illuminating the tranquility of the small room.

Levi had heard the narration Hanji had put out for his trainee. He hated the Titans with every piece of his soul and it didn't give any ounce of importance whether or not they felt emotion. Because if they had the slightest chance of being so, they wouldn't be able live with themselves for the people they deprived of living their nonexistent dreams. He blew out a sigh when the deep, eager voice stopped abruptly. "Are we done?"

"Squad leader Hanji, are you okay?" Eren leaned close to the mute woman. He tapped lightly to her shoulder and was greeted by a sob that resonated from Hanji. Then she started to shake.

Levi felt a pang of... Whatever sentiment it could've been, he wasn't inevitably apt at this. For the girl, he was supposed to find. And join the Survey Corps with. Hanji Zoe. He remembered her sister, she had resembled her sibling so much, their personalities almost identical, eagerness and earnestness for the things that interest them. Strategies when faced with problems. Hyperactive.

He watched the strands of hair that fell from her messy bun. Then he rose from his position, legs asleep from no usage, but managed to walk until he stood behind the woman. "Hanji. You've got to go now. Your squad's getting ready for their next expedition, tomorrow morning and rest is essential to good performance."

She looked up blearily. In the direction of Levi and turned the corners of her mouth, just like her sister had when she was on the brink of death. Smiles make the pain dull...He had read somewhere. Was it true? Was it why Levi felt the blistering pain of his past every movement he was led on?

"You're correct, Levi. I'll go now, you two rest also." Hanji pushed the chair back with a squeak and bounded out the door.

Eren's eyes filled with so much feeling, from different views, tears, anger, and what seemed pity for the woman, Levi felt sick, or the absence of what the boy had and he didn't. Was it worth it?

"Eren."

"Huh?"

"Go to your quarters."

"But I was assigned -"

"I said, go to your quarters, you need to sleep. If you don't recall, it wasn't only me who had battled that aberrant. Go. I promise I won't sneak out."

"But-"

"Do you trust me, Eren?" Levi said bluntly, the shock still registering from Hanji's brief visit.

"I do, sir." Eren got up and brushed past his Corporal. He lifted his startling raw eyes to meet the cobalt intense ones of Levi. He had never noticed how blue the Corporal's eyes really were, they weren't the ones you take notice at first sight. They were ones you had to examine, and then appreciate, like Eren was then.

He took a deep breath and said softly. "My mother also used to tell Mikasa and I that love is like the moon, when ones were apart, the moon was a crescent, and once the ones were reunited the moon was a whole. Both are beautiful, the wholly of feeling full and replete and the lingering feeling of desire and helplessness, because loss is beautiful, it drives people to accomplish what they normally don't. Love is like the moon because it is everywhere, whenever you look up or inside yourself, it's there, shining as bright and a burning ember, in all levels of whole.."

"Why are you bothering to tell me this?" Levi said impatiently to the boy.

"I don't know, sir... Never mind, forget I mentioned that." And he retired to his own bed.

What Levi didn't tell him was that he used to stare at the moon on clear nights, wishing and holding to the hope in which he would return.

* * *

Ookay. Then. Uh. Firstly, I've been away because of camp and mosquitoes and really unsanitary tents and basically people talking in the middle of the night in which kept me up. For a week. I would've updated but there wasn't any signal on my cell phone, and also, it ran out of battery because I kept showing pictures to my friends of Levi. Mhm. So

This is just a brief chapter, not sure where it's leading. Somewhere, perhaps. I personally don't even know whether or not I was awake when I wrote this so I hope it makes sense and enjoy :)

Oh and! The new episode D: D: Just D: The uh... Little Female Titan dilemma was quite astonishing even though I already knew it would happen and it shouldn't've been a surprise but it was. And now another week lies in front of me. AWAIT...

Enjoy ;)

~Livelongprosperr


	7. Chapter 7

_Levi staggered to school. His mother had insisted he continue his daily routine so things could elevate to calmer grounds - In which the subdominant meaning was to let the troubles of school make him forget about his incident with his father._

_He made his way down the cobblestone path was cluttered with autumn - crunched leaves, swirling in the faint, chilly breeze like a whirlwind of vivid colour. Levi patted the leaves away from his face, and sullenly went along. _

_It had been a mere two days. Since. Levi, had broken down in that alley. His wounds weren't impending towards full heal, and his to be scars were still scabbing over, Levi's head hadn't been steady enough to function accordingly, but he was approaching school, where he was obligated to redirect all whims towards his moronic instructor instead of the unmentionable._

_The door to their elite school building was oak and Levi's hands trembled under the force it took to open it, he huffed a breath after many declines. He was about to slam his shoulder into the wooden gate when it was slid open by a blond haired boy. Levi had tripped over his own shoes and was about to meet the stone pavement when he was caught by strong hands which belonged to the boy who had made the door accessible. _

_He gasped in the sudden pain in his ribs as the boy set him down on his feet again. That was when Levi converged to observe how incredibly distinguishable the boy's features had been. He was of average height, still a full head high in stature with a lean though athletic build. He had green eyes, which differed in shades depending on the direction of light that had shot from. It was full of ... Emotion and feeling and was like looking into one's soul. Mirrors. Whereas Levi's dark blue ones was rid of anything notably distinct but bareness. He had auric, blond hair, in which glowed like warm sunlight under the lamp he had been resting under._

_"Are you okay? Levi? I remember the times the teacher calls you out." He opened his mouth with a smile to reveal a mouth of mishappen teeth, quite atypical for those who inhabited in the inner ring, but it was obscure under the brilliance of his hair._

_"It's Levi." He brushed off his plaid jacket and picked up his backpack before seating in his usual corner, the farthest away his educator._

_She clapped her hands together in order to procure silence, in which the class had paused its chatter and dimmed down to a near silence except for a few snickers of a scattering girls._

_"Okay, everyone, today will be our first and final 'Titan Informant' seminar; apparently budgets were cut from the inner wall education endowment. Because some ungrateful outer ring families protested to win over improved instructional services, with the amount of significance they're worth, they actually want heated rooms!" Levi's instructor chuckled incredulously. "Pathetic. But our government is a tad too spoiling and granted them that. Which is why, class, we aren't going to have any more Titan lessons."_

_A moan erupted from parts of the class, where complaints were thrown around like a tornado of voices trying to overpower one another. _

_"Hey - That's absolutely unfair! What are we supposed to do if those bastards actually break into the walls?"_

_"You still haven't taught us how to defeat them - "_

_"Calm down everyone." Their instructor slammed her hands against her desk, "They're not going to break in, our walls are fifty meters high. As we acquired last lesson, Titan heights range from three to fifteen meters. They can't possibly climb a flat surface."_

_Levi sighed at the amount of obliviousness the community was expressing. He laid back and slipped down in his chair, mind starting to drift off. The Titans' vulnerability was the back of their necks, Levi had figured that out during that accidental encounter. He didn't understand why. But he knew the next time he would meet one, that would be the target. He doubted most people here acknowledged that small trace of valuable information, to the most._

_Except for the Survey Corps... The Scouting Legion. They knew for sure. They went into the unsheathed lands, Levi had only seen, smelled, felt a miniscule fragment of what was in store. And he'd been frightened and allured at the same time._

_They were all ignorant, as if blind men were judging the colours of a rainbow. _

_"You're going to pair yourselves into twos, we'll have a reading session and questions afterwards." She said, "Levi, Ryoh. You're going to be together for the time being, I want to be able to watch closely over your actions without having to jerk my head back and forth. Besides, Levi, you don't have any friends, so count this act generous. Now go."_

_Levi slumped detachedly and reached an arm to his sack for the textbook he'd never even bothered to remove it of its wrapping. The blond haired boy with green eyes, Ryoh, he was named, had slipped into the desk adjoining his own. "Hey."_

_Levi stared off into the distance, catching random objects by the eye and avoiding conversation with Ryoh. _

_"Are you always this rude or are you just deaf?" _

_"Don't talk to me."_

_"Ooh.. We've got a sour mood. Look, we have to read pages one to nine if you were paying attention, but I'm pretty sure you were up in the moon. I don't have a textbook." Ryoh drooped his shoulders and awaited a response._

_Levi picked up the assigned book and thrusted it into the other boy's lap. _

_"Thanks man, I'll... Leave you alone then." Ryoh slapped a hand over Levi's shoulder, which derived a hiss and a pained expression from him, that's where his father had slammed him with the chair, it was bandaged but Levi could sense the blood seep through the fabric._

_Ryoh had noticed his unmistakable reaction and inquired, "Hey, are you sure you're okay? You have the same.. Expression as when I caught you at the door."_

_Levi took out his nimble though bandaged fingers and proceeded onto wiping the hair out of his eyes. He ignored the boy's demands._

_"I'm serious, you seem hurt, are you hurt?" Ryoh reached a hand towards Levi's jacket, but before he could come close enough for examination, his hand had been jerked backwards and pushed up his arm, engulfing a high pitched shriek form him. Levi had twisted his hand back. He stood up to move away but was greeted by the discontents, "Geez, is this how you treat concern?! No wonder you have no friends."_

_Levi stiffened under the infliction of those words and turned to face him, jet, black hair falling in smooth strands in front of his duke blue eyes._

_"Whoa.. I didn't mean anything - "_

_"My father beat me with wooden chair, a nail and a hammer, has your concern all been dissipated now?" Levi said grimly. He watched as Ryoh's brows furrowed then readjusted to a nod._

_The two settled down in a restless silence, the flipping of pages and scribbles on the edges of a notebook the only din audible. Levi had taken upon a pencil again, spinning it through his fingers as if to weave a complex web, the movements were especially agile, and the pattern they went through was untraceable. Ryoh had fixated subconsciously his attention towards Levi, watching as he performed his skill in innermost of thought._

_"S-So, why did he hit you?" _

_Levi dropped the object he had been flinging and stabbed it into the wood of the desk. Ryoh flinched and began to return to his task when Levi opened his mouth to say,"The ancient dispute between contrasting opinions."_

_"What were the opinions?"_

_"None of your business."_

_"Okay." _

_Levi tolerated loneliness. He'd spent such long periods of time by himself, surrounded by his own theories and speculations, without anyone else around. He'd run away from home more than he could recall, and it wasn't necessarily because Levi preferred being alone, just the bitter fact that he'd never known to be exposed to anything else._

_"You know, I get how you're acting." Ryoh drew slightly distinct figures on his paper which resembled a Titan, it wasn't nearly accurate, as Levi referred to his preceding confrontation. "I never knew my parents, so love for me is an unpleasant subject too."_

_Levi continued to ignore him. Ryoh turned out to be aggravatingly persistent, but he wasn't going to give in, toleration it was again._

_"I was adopted by a wealthy family in the inner circle for image. So I was an act of community service." Ryoh lingered with his words. "Not very reassuring if you ask me."_

_Levi heard their instructor walking towards them, her shoes clicked against the stones. He lifted his head to meet the build of a short, squat woman with with hair pulled in such a tight clasp, the edges of her face had seemed to be splitting. _

_"How is the review going, boys?" She gritted her teeth in a way most would consider a smile, though Levi deemed a scowl._

_"It's going just fine, ma'am." Ryoh turned up a corner of his mouth. _

_"That's nice boys, finally behaving for a change. Oh and Levi, your father's here; he's mentioned he wants to discuss something with -"_

**_Shit. _**

_"-You. You're excused for the rest of the day, go pack." _

_Levi put his hands on his forehead in anguish before groaning and standing up from his seat. He was lightly tapped on the back, by Ryoh again, when he turned around._

_"It's still angsty with your dad right?"_

_Levi stuffed his book back into his pack. "I'm going to have to deal with it sooner or later. Better soon."_

_"No, how about better later - Tell you what, I'll get you out of here so you don't have to confront him. Listen to my instructions carefully." _

_Levi stopped midway and glanced back._

Levi awoke to hushed voices outside his door. They sounded frantic and rushed, analyzed as female and male, one in which was identified by Levi as Eren's exaggerated tone and Mikasa's also.

He had laid there for a few moments, catching onto whatever part of their discussion perceptible. They had seemed to be arguing over something, Levi wasn't conscious to hear the origin.

_"Mikasa!"_

_"Eren, I'm serious. I don't trust that stout idiot - He's not able to keep you here - "_

_"I was assigned! It's an assignment - " _

_"I can help you escape." _

_"No Mikasa, I chose to join the Survey Corps, and this was an assignment Hanji gave me, as a part of the Survey Corps. I have to follow it."_

_"Eren."_

_"Stop treating me like I'm someone you have to guard from harm. You're not my mother."_

Levi sighed and settled his head on his pillow, a strand of his hair hung in front of his vision, it was clumped together. He sighed once more in irritation and rose up from the squeaky mattress, the sound had alerted the two in which Eren had forced Mikasa to leave their compound.

Levi grasped his comb and ran it through his battered hair. That was when Eren walked untimely and held the Corporation salute behind Levi's figure, unmoving. After he felt contented with the way his hair fell, it was tidy enough, he picked up the perfectly folded and ironed uniform.

"Brat, you can stop putting up the act now." He glimpsed at the boy's stature. "Your arm's not erect enough."

Eren winced at Levi's words and readjusted his position, before breaking apart and slumping down wearily. Eren's burnished hair was rumpled and clearly not yet managed to from his sleep. It stuck up in all directions and went horribly with his serious expression. Levi approached him with the comb in one hand and cleaved it into his hair.

"H-Huh?"

"Stop squirming." Levi felt discontented watching Eren's appearance anything less than the usual level sloppiness, and therefore stroked the comb down his surprisingly velvet - alike strands, until it affixed in a somewhat more decent presence.

Eren withdrew from the Corporal after he had set the comb back on the counter. He had stammered then swallowed his breath and closed his eyes awkwardly.

"Eren."

"Yes, sir?

"Your sister, Mikasa - "

"Adoptive sister, her family was murdered."

"She's likes to watch over you, doesn't she?" Levi pulled his tucked shirt out of his pant line.

"She - She's been protective, because I killed the people who kidnapped her. I don't really appreciate it... It gets in the way at times. I'm guessing you heard our conversation." Eren looked down in embarrassment.

Levi shrugged off his shirt, pulled it over his head and carefully unfolded his uniform. "You should learn to be grateful of it. Difficult to come across such commitment in someone towards an actual person."

"But it gets in the way sometimes, just as I was just dealing with. She tried to get me out of here." Eren said exasperatedly.

"I may not believe in.. Love, but I believe in commitment. It's going to benefit you in ways you don't know yet, Eren." Levi covered his white shirt, with the leather jacket in which the symbol of freedom burned onto of. He wrapped the fabric around his neck and folded it so that it fell in ruffles in front of his exposed shirt.

"Corporal Levi, how come you always wear that... Tie, thing?" Eren strained his neck to identify Levi.

"Why do you always wear that stupid expression."

"It's my face - "

"Exactly. And this is my uniform. So, shut up." He brushed past him and sprinted out the door.

* * *

Hi. I don't know what to say.

But. Enjoy :)

~Livelongprosperr.


	8. Chapter 8

Yo... Hi. Again. This is fairly late, though with school hanging around I was quite surprised that I even got the time to remember.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin... Because if I did I wouldn't make the viewers die with anticipation, waiting for the second season - IF it's coming of course.

* * *

_Ryoh tugged on Levi's sleeve as they tore through the building, through Ryoh's countless apologies, he had decided not to mind the pain that dispersed through his legs and feet. Their plan was to claim the headmaster required something of them, and in which took the excuse as a span for fleeing._

_They'd almost made it to the exit when their headmaster had toppled onto them from around a corner. The two made an attempt to hide their exertion from their breaths, but was faced by an accusing jab of a finger. Ryoh brought out his classic half grin and in which Levi remained dark faced._

_"What - " Their professor had tugged onto the collars of their shirts in order to lead them convenient, "do I have to deal with you two now?"_

_"It's absolutely nothing, Levi's father is here and," Ryoh motioned to their classroom, "he just so happened to forget something from the cubbies."_

_"The cubbies are on the other side of the building, Ryoh, you've got your facts wrong." Their headmaster was about to drag them back into his office when Levi grabbed onto a certain chunk of flesh on his thigh and made a twisting action and to which the old man collapsed hastily._

_The two boys departed the incident immediately and darted out the anterior opening._

"Where are we going, sir?" Eren jogged to catch up to the Corporal who had left without any indication of whereabouts.

"Somewhere where your distasteful Titan abilities won't be pointless."

"Where's that?"

"Oh my god, boy. Just follow me or get misplaced. How many times do I have to tell you to shut up." Levi glared at the trainee with the incessant curiosity.

Eren groaned before closing his mouth and trailed along.

_Ryoh led Levi through crammed alleys between brick buildings, debris littered in every corner they turned in, plant roots crawled up the rust coloured slabs, as sunlight streaked from tight openings in the alleys' exposed canopy, in which highlighted the sheer amount of 'disarray in which Ryoh and Levi avoided as they dashed by._

_Levi suppressed his urge to release the scream of agony he had felt coming from his throbbing wounds. When he noticed, Ryoh had nudged him to slow his pace, clearly the pained expression on his face had alerted Ryoh._

_After a while of neighbourhoods rushing by, the conditions became evidently less opulent, stone manors with lush trees blundering to hide the wealth becoming paltry bushes clearing in need of management scattered in front of smaller, less decorated houses. Until there was nothing generally stopped being human habitats altogether._

_"We're here." The boy whose golden hair whipped behind him in the wind stopped in a halt._

_Levi breathed out puffs of rushed air, as he leaned onto the walls for support. _

_"They won't ever locate you. This is one of the only uncharted and not assessed areas of the inner ring." _

_Levi checked his surroundings with precision. They were in a wooden shack, closely simulating a house, though appeared as if sloppily constructed. Around was a extensive forest, dark greens as far as the eye could assess, in which they were standing at the only open space where sunlight could streak in._

_Levi slipped onto a low tree branch to regain his breath and, "Thank you." He said._

_"Well, will you look at that! Narcissistic, gloomy boy has finally showed some appeal." _

_Levi kept his indifferent expression and began picking at loose twigs that littered the grass y surface. _

_"And. It's gone again." Ryoh crammed his head to meet the detached boy, he had begun twisting the stick through his fingers as if it were slipping on its own, in substitute of the usual pencil."How do you do all that? No, how do you do anything? Pushing my arm up like that? What about how you knocked out the old man?"_

_Ryoh was greeted with the silence of timid winds and leaves rustling across the vast canopies._

_"By the way, I am really enjoying our conversation. So… One sided." He scorned in Levi's direction. "Oh my god…"_

_Levi had opened up his jacket to reveal a ghastly blood-stained which cloth, which beneath was a scab which had began to crack open again. He reached for a nearby leaf, shined it by wiping it on his sleeve and managed to wipe away a plurality of the blood. Through gritted teeth behind pursed lips, he reapplied the bandage without difficulty._

_"Look. Levi, That's not just a regular beating, it looks deep. What the hell made your dad hit you that hard?!" Ryoh said, "God. How do you deal with these things? You don't open up to anyone, I presume, since you won't even respond to the guy who basically saved your ass. No friends, and even if you have siblings, they would probably hate you. Parents," Ryoh gestured to his shoulder, "No discussion invalid."_

_Levi weighed out the words Ryoh had said. And turned finally, with his hair drooping over his empty stare, declared, "My father wants me to join the Military Police."_

_"So? That's a fine job, you do nothing and get favorable recognition –"_

_"So, they put shame to their name of saving humanity." Levi cut off._

_"Why does that matter? Who cares about genuineness anymore, no one even bothers with remembering what 'genuine' is. All anyone cares about are themselves, nowadays." Ryoh chucked bleakly as he flung a stone in the air. _

_Levi looked down at the dirt. He's right but I don't want to agree._

_"Let's take my sad life for an example." He patted the shack next to them. "This is where I live. As I mentioned before, thanks for not bothering to care, my parents adopted me as community service. They want the image and not the stupid boy who was so useless; his parents left him to die._

_"And the worst thing, is that they treat me like a pet. A fucking pet, in which I don't get to go inside my 'home' until dark to sleep, doesn't matter if it rains – snows, tornado for all they care. I'm not allowed to return._

_"If you can find any authenticity in that, please enlighten me."_

_Levi felt his wounds start to seem less horrid than the life of the boy next to him, he had a place to live and was able to eat without contemplation before. His father had hit him, but when Levi took the time to ponder the reasoning, it was always him. Who had established the argument, who'd provoked his father's anger. Which was why a tear fell. He wasn't crying, but a tear fell, and that was enough for Ryoh to melt his face in concern over him._

_"Oh god, I didn't mean to put my troubles over you, I know how hard your life is but I just needed to vent, you know. Don't have any more friends than you do, Levi." _

_Levi hated himself for this. He hated himself for being.. So… Inexplicably... Weak. He hated feeling helpless, disorganized, angry at some unknown source, which was why he persisted like he knew everything from one closure of the world to another. He fathomed the appropriate targets to aim for when in combat, which would enable nerves to correct functioning, which would cause the foe unconscious, and which to kill. He knew the materials in textbooks he never read and he knew how to defeat a Titan._

_But he didn't know anything about how a person endures. Humans, as the most sentimental species to exist, Levi didn't know how to deal with emotions, they washed over him like vigorous waves to drown and suffocate. But in those waters, Levi didn't know how to swim._

_He stood up. From Levi's branch, and palpably looked at Ryoh for the first time, not examine, not observe, or skim or glance, but earnestly, look. And he knew they'd been the same. Ryoh was a broken, damaged, shattered boy who couldn't pick up the pieces of his mirror that identified who he was, so to disallow others to feel his pain, he smiled while his fingers bled under the punctures of the glass he picked up while his every waking moment. _

_Levi had taken his pieces elsewhere, abroad from anyone's view point. He isolated himself while he hurt and his fingers pooled the blood away._

_But if they just helped each other collect the broken shards. Wouldn't that be better? Darkness and Light must be equal and balanced in order to form the colour of the sky. It was grey, wasn't it? Blue was just an absence of obscure, bleak clouds. Life was bleak, wasn't it? Cruel._

_Levi approached Ryoh and demanded him in a shaky voice. "I want to go back."_

_"What?"_

_"Which way back to the city?"Levi scanned the area of verdant timbers. They were tall and he didn't recall which direction they originated from._

_"It's north. I'll take you back." _

_"I apologize for bringing you into trouble." Levi spoke, "I'll take any blame there is." _

_"N-no. It's fine, it was a nice 'reflection upon oneself' moment. Don't worry." And he motioned along the trail for Levi to follow._

_He did. _

_Was this a friend, he was beginning to know?_

_No. Hold on, he didn't know what defined a friend._

_Care? Was it to care? To understand? To love?_

_He didn't know._

_The world is an unfair scale where the ones weighed down by their own despairs were not left room, but there was another world where the broken ones dwelt. And it wasn't so bad, if the fragmented ones stuck together, things wouldn't get worse._

* * *

__Okay. Then. Ugh. I really need to revise these 'author's notes' because I have absolutely nothing to say, which really contrasts my normal self...

But enjoy ;)

~Livelongprosperr.


End file.
